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About the Photographer

Yang, Yongliang

Chinese, b. 1980, Jiading, Shanghai

Yang Yongliang is a Chinese artist originally trained in traditional Chinese painting and calligraphy. Drawing upon this background, Yongliang creates photographic works in the style of the landscape paintings he was trained in, combining the long-established Chinese painting style with elements of modern Shanghai life and references to urban culture, including telephone wires, cranes, street signs, and buildings--all of which appear as small details throughout the landscape. When viewing Yongliang’s works from a distance, the details can hardly be noticed, creating an illusion of a serene, poetic landscape. However, a closer inspection reveals the industrial and urban elements, disrupting the romanticized experience and calling attention to the details of contemporary city life. Through his fusion of traditional and modern, Yongliang comments on the beauty and fragility of human existence and the land while addressing issues of industrialization and urbanization.

Yang Yongliang graduated from the Shanghai Arts & Crafts Vocational College (1995) and from the China Fine Art Academy Institute in Shanghai (1999). Yongliang’s work has been exhibited internationally at the Kunstmuseum Luzern in Switzerland, ARTMIA Gallery in Beijing, OFOTO gallery in Shanghai, Gallery Jinsun in Seoul, LIMN art gallery in San Francisco, and many others. His work is in the permanent collections of The British Museum, the Nevada Art Museum, the Bates College Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Victoria, and The Saatchi Gallery. He lives and works in Beijing.